Arizona veteran's life a symbol of sacrifice

Marine 1 of 6 grand marshals for today's parade

A Marine, he just finished his fourth tour of duty in the Middle East.

He has not been awarded any significant medals. He doesn't have extraordinary stories to tell. He came home to four kids who barely knew him, a marriage that was breaking apart, and his job in Buckeye guarding inmates in the prison kitchen.

Russell, 28, is quick to point out that he is just one of millions of people who have done this before for their country.

"There are a lot of sacrifices," he said. "My wife missed half our marriage. I missed my kids growing up. It cost me my marriage. But that is the cost of freedom."

Russell's sense of duty will be celebrated today at the Veterans Day Parade in Phoenix. He will be one of six grand marshals at the front of the parade, which honors those who served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, plus the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are 21.9 million veterans in this country. More than 550,000 of them live in Arizona.

Russell said he is proud of the work he has done, but he says there should be no talk of him being a hero. "I'm not," he said. "I'm a Marine."

Clock doesn't stop

Russell, who grew up in Avondale and now lives in Waddell, joined the Marines as a reservist in September 2000. One year later, the World Trade Center towers were attacked, and he knew he would be called up.

A military-transport driver, he went to Iraq in January 2003 for just short of a year. He went back again in 2006.

His third tour of Iraq began in 2009, and from there, he went straight to Afghanistan.

He came home again in April of this year.

When he first went to war, Russell and his wife, Clover, had one child. There would be three more children, but the marriage, he said, could not survive the service.

"It's hard when the husband has to go to war," he said. "I changed. She changed. For service members, it feels like the clock stops, but it doesn't."

The divorce became final earlier this month.

Each day at war, Russell worried about his children: Tashia, 8; Tavis, 6; Donovan, 4; and Zachary, 2.

He would sit down every night and write them a letter. Sometimes, he wrote about what he did that day. Other times, he wrote about the fun things they had done as a family when he was home. Clover would read the letters to the children.

The letters, he said, were for him and for them.

"I wanted them to remember that I was there, that we did do things," he said.

Now, there are carpools and homework and the complicated shared-custody issues for all recently divorced parents, while he holds down his night job at Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis.

War, Russell said, is dangerous, but peace can be harder: "Oh, way harder. Combat, at least you know kind of what to expect."

'Just like my kids'

At war, Russell spends most of his time driving supplies in trucks both big and small. It's bringing food to troops and supplies to engineers.

The danger is evident. In Iraq and Afghanistan, roadside bombs have caused more than half of the combat casualties both killed and wounded, according to the Department of Defense.

He has been doing it too long to deny getting scared sometimes. "You are always a little bit scared," he said. "But your fear kind of dissolves, and your training and muscle memory take over."

Russell is a true believer in the Marine Corps and the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I've seen it," he said. "I've seen children there now with dreams about the future. Dreams about the democracy and maybe just having a job. Those kids are just like my kids."

He is certain he is making the world a better place for those children as well as his own. And he tries to set a good example.

As a reservist, Russell often volunteers to go to the funerals of older veterans who have passed on. It is his chance, he says, to pay respect "to the Marines and veterans who came before."

"It's because of them that I have the chance to defend my country," he said.

His unrelenting belief in the Marine Corps and the mission has served him well. And it will again. He is again scheduled for deployment back to Afghanistan in May 2011.